Cissy
King is an accomplished dancer and popular
entertainer best
remembered as part of the Bobby and Cissy
dancing duo that graced the dance floor of the
Lawrence Welk Show from 1967 to 1978. Owing to her
loyal fan base, King also
generated a fan rebellion when she was fired by
Lawrence Welk for what he claimed was her perpetual
"tardiness." An avalanche of angry fan mail greeted
Welk in the weeks following her dismissal and forced
Bobby to dance with himself on the Show until he
could find a new partner.

King was born in
Trinidad, Colorado but moved to Albuquerque at a
young age where her parents enrolled her in dance
school. She went on to become the head cheerleader
at her high school and a member of the cheerleading
squad at University of New Mexico.
Bobby Burgess noticed
King at a dance competition in 1967 and asked her to
join him as a guest on the Lawrence Welk Show,
replacing Barbara Boylan, who planned to retire and
get married. King became a fixture shortly
afterward, becoming Burgess' permanent dance
partner.

King
and Welk's relationship began to deteriorate
after Welk discovered that King was asking her
friends and relatives to write letters praising
her performances. A well-known task master,
Welk's patience ran dry when he abruptly fired
her in 1978 over her tardiness to work. Keeping
with custom, Welk never explained King's
departure to his audience lest his show begin to
sound like a traffic report. In Cissy's case,
however, a flood of fan mail came pouring in
demanding answers. King told the Los Angeles
Times in 1979 that the combination of Bobby
Burgess wanting a new dance partner along with
her tardiness prompted Welk's decision. Today,
King lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico where she
runs a dance studio.